1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information-processing apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to an information-processing apparatus that can be activated in a short period of time, an activation method adopted by the information-processing apparatus, and a program to be executed by a computer of the information-processing apparatus to implement the activation method.
2. Description of the Related Art
An operating system of a computer is a basic program that treats hardware of the computer as an abstract entity and provides an operating environment to application programs running on the hardware. When the power-supply switch of an information-processing apparatus is turned on, a boot loader loads the kernel of the operating system into the hardware in order to activate the operating system. The functions of recent operating systems are enhanced, prolonging the time it takes to activate the operating system. A typical length of the time it takes to activate the operating system is about several tens of seconds.
In order to activate the operating system in a short period of time, a variety of techniques have been tried so far. In accordance with a typical disclosed technique, immediately after a power-supply plug is inserted into a power-supply outlet, the kernel of the operating system is loaded into a memory in order to carry out an expansion process in advance. Then, when the power-supply switch is turned on, the kernel of the operating system is executed on the memory in a short period of time (e.g., see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-149225 (FIG. 1)).